Document handling apparatus



Oct. 21, 1969 BlNZON] ET AL 3,473,799

DOCUMENT HANDLING APPARATUS '5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 16, 1967 INVENTORS M Birzzona Robert E- Mersemsau MldL. M'Zson 5y Q,

Oct. 21, 1969 E. M. BINZONI ET AL 3,473,799

DOCUMENT HANDLING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 16, 1967 Mersefieau fia aZd L. [441500 BY [\VENTORS Emilao M Bnzom, 5066/ 1 5 5 9% ATTORNEY Oct. 21, 1969 E. M. BINZONl ET AL uocuumm" HANDLING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 16, 1967 Oct. '21, 1969 E. M. BINZONI ET AL 3,473,799

DOCUMENT HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 16, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet s r7200 Manse/"e44 INVENTORS Emr/la M 5/ eabafi E. rn/d Z. M7500 United States Patent 3,473,799 DOCUMENT HANDLING APPARATUS Emilio M. Binzoni, Norwalk, and Robert E. Mersereau,

Rowayton, Conn, and Donald L. Wilson, Berlin, Germany, assignors to Pitney-Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn,

a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 675,427 Int. Cl. 1365b /02 US. Cl. 271-7 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disclosed is a document handling system for use in address printing type machines and consists of movable tapes which carry a document from a feed station to a printing station, positionable stops which locate a document for a printing operation, a catch tray which receives documents after they are released from the printing station and control means to raise and lower the document stops in timed relation to the printing operation.

This invention relates generally to sheet or document feeding apparatus and in particular to apparatus for feeding individual articles such as sheets or documents to a printing station, stopping the article at the printing station for a controlled period of time and carrying it away from the printing station to a receiving tray.

Specifically the invention disclosed herein relates to a transport system for use in automatic or semiautomatic addresser printer type machines wherein documents are transported to a printing station, aligned, held in the station during an imprinting operation and then released and carried to a stacker tray. The length of time that the documents are held in the printing station and the time of release of the documents are coordinated with the imprinting operation and are automatically controlled to assure accurate printing and efficient usage of the machine. A pair of transport tapes act in conjunction with a pair of pressure strips to carry the document forward away from an operator to a printing station wherein the document is arrested by a pair of stops which hold the sheets against the movement of the tapes during the printing operation. After an imprinting operation the stops are automatically pivoted out of the way so that the tapes carry the document away from the printing station.

It is an object of this invention to improve sheet handling apparatus used in imprinting machines.

It is an object of this invention to provide a sheet feeding apparatus which will feed individual sheets or documents to a feeding station, hold the sheets in an aligned position during printing and carry the sheet away from the printing station at the termination of the printing operation.

These and other objects of this invention are attained by means of a pair of belts or tapes positioned to receive sheets of paper or the like and to carry the sheets to and away from a printing station and a pair of pivotable stops movable into and out of the path of movement of the sheets to arrest the sheets at the printing station and to permit the sheets to pass after printing, the position of the stops being adjustable to vary the location of the sheets at the printing station.

For a better understanding of the invention as well as other objects and further features thereof, reference is bad to the following detail description of the invention to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein;

FIGURE 1 is a front, left-side perspective view showing an addresser printer machine embodying the present invention.

3,473,799 Patented Oct. 21, 1969 FIGURE 2 is a rear left-side perspective view showing the document catch tray of the addresser printer apparatus shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective schematic view of transport system embodying the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is a top view of the transport system shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along lines 55 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a partial sectional view taken along line 66 of FIGURE 4 and shown in conjunction with the stop operating mechanism.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view of the document stop positioning mechanism taken along line 7-7 of FIG- URE 4.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings, FIGURES 1 and 2 show an addresser printer machine utilizing the document feed apparatus constituting the present invention. FIG- URE 1 shows the front of the machine and a feeding station indicated generally as 10. An operator places a sheet or document onto which there is to be imprinted information such as an address, or the like, onto the machine cover or deck 14 at station 10. The document is positioned against the right-hand document guide 12 on deck 14. With the right-hand portion of the document abutting the guide 12 the document is squared relative to the machine and positioned laterally relative to a print station 16. The print station 16 can be seen through the door or flap 20 of the top covers 18 when the door is in the open position as shown in FIGURE 1. The document is moved forward by an operator towards the print station 16 and is caught between a pair of transport tapes 22 which emerge from beneath the cover 14 and a pair of flexible pressure strips 24 supported from a cross bar 26 in alignment with the tapes 22. The pressure strips 24 press the document against the tapes 22 as the tapes carry the document forward to the print station 16. The document is arrested at the print station 16 by a pair of document stops 28, one set of which can be seen in FIGURE 1. The stops 28 hold the document in position for printing during the printing operation and release the document after the print operation to allow the tapes 22 to carry the document out of the rear of the machine to a document catch tray 30, seen in FIGURE 2.

The document guide 12 is adjustable by means of a knob 32 positioned above a channel 36. The knob 32 releases a slide 34 which moves in the channel 36. The document guide 12 is adjusted to accommodate various size documents and to position a document so that the portion of the document which is to receive the printed material is properly positioned when it reaches the printing station. A left side guide 38 is movably mounted from a positioning block 40 on the cross bar 26. The cross bar 26 is supported from the main frame of the machine behind the cover 20 when the cover is in the closed position. The guide 38 is slanted inward at a point beyond the forward edge of the cover 14. Thus a document positioned against the guide 12 and carried forward by the tapes 22, is urged toward the guide 12 by the guide 38.

The document catch tray that is shown in FIGURE 2 consists of a document receiver plate 42 removably suspended from the rear cover plate of the machine and directly beneath the point Where the tapes 22 deposit the sheets or documents after printing. The receiving plate 42 has a series of spaced opening 44 located along the length of the plate and adapted to receive an arresting plate 46. The arresting plate extends upward from the receiving plate 42 and is positioned to contact the leading edge of the document as it is ejected by the tapes 22. The docu ments stack up against the arresting plate and are held down on the receiver plate by means of a pair of document deflectors 48. The deflectors 48 consist of a pair of flexible metal strips supported at one end from the cover 18 of the addresser printer immediately above the tapes 22 and the other end resting in a pair of slots 50 in the arresting plate 46. As the documents stack up on the receiver plate 42 the deflectors 48 hold the sheets down and are movable upward in the slots 50 by the accumulation of the sheets or documents.

DOCUMENT TRANSPORT The conveyor tapes 22 which transport the documents from the feed station through the printing station 16 to the catch tray 30, and the drive system therefore are seen in the FIGURE 4 and the schematic arrangement in FIGURE 3. The tapes extend around a wooden drive roll 52 located beneath the cover plate 14 at the feed station. The feed roll 52 is rotatably suspended from a pair of brackets 54 and drive the top tapes in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 3. The tapes come off the top of the roller, travel horizontally onto a deck 56 past the feeding station 16, and around a pair of guide rollers 58 mounted on an idler shaft 60. The shaft 60 is supported from a pair of brackets 62 located immediately above the document catch tray. The rollers 58 are held in position on shaft 60 by means of clamps 59. The tapes extend around the guide rollers 58 back across the plate 56 directly beneath the tapes carrying the document and around the drive roller 52. The guide rollers 58 are positionable along the shaft 60 by releasing the clamps 59. The tapes 22 will slide along the drive shaft 52 when the rollers 58 are moved. The effective width or distance between the tapes 22 may be varied while running, to accommodate various size documents. At the same time as seen in FIGURES l and 3 the pressure strips 24 are positionable along the cross bar 26 by means of mounting blocks 64. The mounting blocks 64 are held in position on the cross bar 26 by means of set screws 66.

A drive motor 68 provides power for the drive roll 52 through a pulley 70 mounted on the output shaft of the drive motor. A belt 72 driven by the pulley 70 drives a larger pulley 74 mounted on a stub shaft 76 which rotates a smaller pulley 78 also mounted on the stub shaft 76. A belt of circular cross section such as an O ring belt 80 extends around the pulley 78, is deflected 90 by an idler pulley 82, and then extends around shaft 52. As shown in FIGURE 4 the O ring belt is in the drive position on the drive roll 52. The portion of the drive roll 52 indicated at 84 is the idler position for the O ring belt. The belt is moved from the drive position to the idler position by means of disengaging mechanism or clutch 86 shown in FIGURE 3. The clutch mechanism 86 consists of a slide bar 88 extending from a point beneath the O ring belt 80 to a position outside the housing of the main apparatus. There are two pins 90 which extend upward on each side of the O ring belt 80 so that movement to the left of the side bar 88 causes one of the pins 90 to pull the O ring belt 80 to the idler position 84 on the drive roll 52. When the slide bar 88 is pushed inward the other pin 90 pushes the O ring belt 80 back to the drive position shown in FIGURE 3. Thus by a simple push-pull movement for the disengaging mechanism 86 the drive'roll 52 can be switched from between a drive and idle mode of operation.

DOCUMENT STOPS In order to position the documents at the print station without stopping the drive mechanism the documents must be held stationary against the action of the tapes or belts 22. Also in order to accommodate documents of different sizes and printing in different locations on the documents the stop mechanism must be adjustable or positionable in both the direction of movement of the documents and lateral to the direction of movement of the documents. The main elements and the general mode of operation of the stop mechanism can be seen in FIG- URES 3 through 7. A bridge or cross bar structure 92 supports a shaft 94 by means of bearing blocks 96. The bearing blocks 96 are bolted to and suspended from the bridge 92 and has the shaft 94 rotatable therein. A pair of bifurcated documents stops 98 are suspended from the shaft 94 in position so that the legs 126 of the bifurcated portion straddle the tapes 22. The stops 98 are urged downward by springs 100 against the deck or cover over which the tapes run. At one end of the shaft 94 there is a crank arm 102 secured to the shaft and extending outward therefrom. A lifter mechanism 104, more fully described below, is positioned to engage the crank arm 102 and produce rotation at the shaft 94 lifting the stops 98 off the deck against the action of the springs 100.

The bridge 92 is suspended at each end from elongate track-like brackets 106 mounted on the main machine and is slidable along the brackets to position the stops in the direction of document movement. FIGURE 7 shows an enlarged detail view of the clamping mechanism which locks the bridge in place on the brackets 106. A control knob 108 extends outside the main machine and terminates with a set screw in a nut in an extension of the bridge 92. The set screw bears against a portion of the bracket 106 forcing the bracket and bridge together locking the bridge in place. To change the poistion of the bridge the knob 108 is turned releasing the set screw and the bridge is moved forward or backward to the position desired.

The bridge 92 is maintained in alignment throughout its path of movement by means of a criss-crossing cable system 110. The cable extends from pin 112 at the forward end of the right-hand track 106 around a guide pin 114 secured to the right-hand side of the bridge 92. The cable then extends across the bridge 92 around a guide pin 116 which directs the cable towards the rear of the feed system and around another guide pin 118 at the rear of the left-hand track 106. The cable 110 then is connected to a shock absorbing spring 120 and then extends down around a pin 122 at the forward end of the left-hand track 106. The pin 122 directs the cable around back to the pin 116 in the left-hand and of the bridge 92. The cable 110 then extends around the pin 116 and across the bridge 92 crossing itself in the middle of the bridge and extending around the right-hand pin 114. The right-hand pin 114 directs the cable 110 towards the rear of the sheet feeder to a pin 124, at which, the cable terminates. As the bridge 92 moves forward and backward the system feeds cable in and out around the two guide pins 114 and 116 maintaining the bridge in alignment. For example as seen in FIGURE 4, as the bridge 92 is moved to the rear, in the direction of sheet feeding, by the control knob 108 the cable is held stationary at pin 112 and, as the bridge moves, the amount of cable between pin 112 and 114 increases and the cable between pin 116 and 118 decreases. Likewise the cable between pin 122 and 116 increases and the cable between pin 114 and 124 decreases. The crisscrossing action of the cable in the bridge assures that the cable necessary to allow movement of one side is taken up from movement of the opposite side so that both sides move in parallel relationship.

STOP ACTUATING MECHANISM The stops 98 are bifurcated or yoke-shaped having a pair of legs 126 which straddle the tapes 22. The legs 126 extend outward from a center portion 128 of the stop 98, as in FIGURE 5. The shaft 94 is a tri-lobed shaped shaft and extends through the center 128 of the stop 98 and is secured thereto. The spring 100 is a torsion spring which is mounted around the shaft 94 and has one end extending under the bridge 92 and the other end under the rear portion of the stop 98. The spring is mounted in a deflected position so that the rear of the stop 98 is forced upward and the legs 126 are forced downward against the deck of the main machine.

Just above the right-hand track 106 there is mounted the flipper or lifter mechanism 104 briefly mentioned above. The flipper mechanism consists of a track 132 which extends along the length of path of travel of the bridge 92, and an actuating finger 134 extending upward from the track 132. The track 132 is mounted rotatably from a pin 136 supported from a bracket 137 on the track 106. The pin 136 extends through the support bracket 137 and a tab 138 of the track 132 and a hole in the actuating finger 134. The movement of the finger 134 causes rotation of the entire flipper about the pin 136 and a lifting or raising motion of the track 132. The crank arm 102 is mounted on and secured to the tri-lobe shaft 94. A finger 142 extends outward from the crank arm 102 over the lifter track 132. Rotational movement of the flipper mechanism 104 causes the track 132 to engage the crank arm finger 142 rotating the crank arm and the tri-lobe shaft 94. Rotation of the shaft 94 produces rotation of the stops 98 against the action of springs 100 producing a. corresponding lifting movement of the stop legs 126 away from the machine deck. As the bridge 92 is moved backward and forward it carries with it the stops 98. The finger 142 of the crank arm 102 moves along over the track 132 of the flipper mechanism 104. Therefore, at any position of the bridge 92 movement of the flipper mechanism 104 will produce corresponding lifting of the stop legs 126.

The flipper mechanism 104 is actuated through a series of linkages consisting of a link 43 connected to the actuating finger 134 and an oscillating lever 144. The lever 144 is pivoted from a bracket 146 at a pivot point 148. The lever 144 is urged upward into a position wherein the flipper is in an actuated position by means of a spring 150 secured at one end to the lever 144 and the other end to the bracket 146. The lever 144 has a caming surface 152 positioned to be engaged by an actuating pin or cam 154 secured to a Cardan drive mechanism 156 utilized in the main drive of the machine. The Cardan drive mechanism 156 is not part of the present invention and therefore is not described in detail herein. The actuator for the lever 144 could be any type of device which is effective, during the proper time sequence, to engage surface 152 and raise the stops 98 to permit passage of a sheet or document after printing.

The bracket 146 supporting the pivot pin 148 is secured at two points 158 and 160 to the frame of the main machine. There is adjustment eccentric 162 in the bracket 146 which engages an arm portion of the lever 144 to regulate the home position or the return of the lever 144 and thus the normal at-rest position of the flipper mechanism 104. In operation, on each cycle of the machine the actuating pin 154 engages the surface 152 of the oscillating lever 144. The lever 144 is rotated in a clockwise direction about pivot point 148 against the action of spring 150. The rotational or oscillating motion of the lever 144 pulls the link 143 which in turn moves the actuating finger 134 of the flipper mechanism 104. The rotational movement of the track 132 about pin 136 causes the track 132 to rotate the crank arm 102 and the shaft 94. Rotation of the shaft 94 raises the stops 98. The timing of release of the documents from the printing station 16 is thus controlled by the timing and position of the actuating pin 154. The position of the pin or an equivalent member which actautes the lever 144 can be regulated to conicide with the printing operation performed at station 16. That is, immediately after the printing has ocurred at station 16 the pin or equivalent member can actuate the lever 144 and immediately release the document at the printing station to be carried away by the tapes 22 to the catch tray 30. Thus during a return cycle of the printing member the previous document may be discharged and a new document bed to the printing station.

6 OPERATION In operation an operator turns on the machine so that the motor 68 is running driving the tape 22 through the drive system as described above. The operator then adjusts the side guide 12 by means of the knob 32 and positions the left side guide 38 by means of the positioning block 40. The bridge structure 92 can be moved forward or backward by means of the control knob 108 to accurately position the stops 98 so that printing occurs in the proper position on the document. The tapes 22 may be adjusted for the size of document to be handled by working the transport belt adjustments 59 on the roller 58 at the rear of the machine. Thus the tapes can be moved together or apart along the drive roller 52 as desired. With the guides set for the proper size document and the stops set for the proper printing location the operator may now place a document or sheet on the cover or deck 14 and move it forward between the pressure strips 24 and the tapes 22. The tapes 22 carry the sheets forward until they engage the stops 98 at which point a printing operation is performed by the main machine. At the termination of the printing operation the lever 144 is actuated and the flipper mechanism 104 raises the stops 98 allowing the tapes 22 to carry the documents to the catch tray 30. The operator may then insert subsequent sheets to be printed.

While the invention has been described with reference to the structure disclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth, and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purpose of the improvements or the scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. Document handling apparatus for use in imprinting machine of the type wherein documents are carried from a feeding station to a printing station and then to a receiving tray, including document transport means defining a path of movement from the feeding station, through the printing station to the receiving tray, said transport means comprising a pair of spaced continuous tapes and rollers, means to drive the tapes and rollers to direct the tapes through the path of movement, said tapes and rollers being positioned to present an upper run of said tapes to documents placed thereon for movement;

means to hold documents on the transport means for movement therewith between the feeding station and the receiving tray, said means comprising flexible pressure strips mounted in alignment with said tapes for urging documents into feeding contact with said tapes;

mean; to arrest the documents at the printing station;

control means to release the documents from the printing station after printing for movement to the recervmg tray.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the transport means and the means to hold documents on the transport means are movable lateral to the direction of movement of the documents to accommodate different size documents;

and the means to arrest the documents is movable in the direction of movement of the documents to change the location in the path of movement at which documents are arrested.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the control means comprises a crank arm adapted to move the arresting means to an inoperative position;

a lifter mechanism positioned to actuate the crank arm, said lifter mechanism comprising an elongate track extending in the direction of movement of the means to arrest the documents; and

a linkage mechanism connected to the lifter mechanism and having a cam surface adapted to be operated by the imprinting machine to raise the 7 8 arresting means during predetermined periods of V a rotatable shaft which upon rotation raises the machine operation. stops from interference relation With the path of 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein travel of the documents and further including spring the arresting means includes a pair of bifurcated stops means to bias the stops into interference relationpositioned to straddle each tape and movable into 5 ship With the path of travel. and out of interference relationship with the movement of documents on the tapes. References Cited 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein I UNITED STATES PATENTS the bifurcated stops are suspended from a bridge Y spanning the path of movement of the documents, 10 330777 11/1885 Dowmng 271 J8 the bridge being movable in the direction of travel 533681 2/1895 Taylor 271-7 X 1,717,231 6/1929 Krell 27150 X of the belts to position the stops along the path of movement of the documents and the stops being EDWARD A SROKA Primary Examiner movable across the bridge to perm-it adjustments at the stops lateral to the path of movement. 15 CL 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein 271 5() the stops are suspended from thebridge by means of 

